English and Philosophy combine two scholarly disciplines, each with its separate faculty and academic programs. The four year program in English leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English. The department also offers minors in English (Writing Emphasis), Philosophy, and Religious Studies.

The Department is housed on the fourth floor of the Liberal Arts Building. The primary function and mission of the Department is to serve the needs of General Education through high quality course instruction in basic writing skills, by introducing students to the understanding and appreciation of literature, philosophy and humanities and to deliver high quality content instruction in two degree programs, the Bachelor of Arts major/minor in English and Bachelor of Arts major in English Teaching Certificate Option. Faculty are engaged in continuous pursuit of scholarly activities.

Foreign languages, as currently taught in college and universities, take as their province the culture both old and new of the particular national groups as revealed in their languages and literatures.

The culture—that is, the behavior, beliefs, customs, values, arts and mode of productivity—is an integral part of every foreign language course, from the elementary to the advanced courses in literature, civilization, and business.

Recorded and computerized material and tutorial programs provide the “on location” experience of cultural authenticity. Through the fiber-optic network of MSU Billings, computer access to the world’s major newspapers, universities, museums and archives is available. The national language is the indisputable vehicle and the inseparable component of any particular culture, which becomes accessible only through its language. Thus are time and history, the self and the world structured and given expression.